Direct ultrashort laser system

ABSTRACT

A direct ultrashort laser system is provided. In another aspect of the present invention, a method of measuring laser pulse phase distortions is performed without requiring an adaptive pulse shaper or interferometry. In yet another aspect of the present invention, a system, a method of operating, a control system, and a set of programmable computer software instructions perform Multi photon Intrapulse Interference Phase Scan processes, calculations, characterization and/or correction without requiring an adaptive pulse shaper.

STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST

A portion of this invention was made with U.S. Government support under Major Research Instrumentation grant CHE-0421047 awarded by the National Science Foundation. The U.S. Government may have certain rights in this invention.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

The present invention generally relates to laser systems and more particularly to a direct ultrashort laser system.

Recent ultrashort laser devices use optimization calculation approaches for pulse compression that do not require phase measurement, and that are able to characterize the phase after pulse compression, provided a calibrated pulse shaper is used. Pulse shapers and the related components, however, can be relatively expensive. Furthermore, noteworthy improvements in laser pulse control are disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0056468 entitled “Control System and Apparatus For Use With Ultra-Fast Laser,” and PCT International Application Serial No. PCT/US07/24171 filed on Nov. 16, 2007 entitled “Laser System Employing Harmonic Generation,” both of which were invented by Marcos Dantus et al. and are incorporated by reference herein.

In accordance with the present invention, a direct ultrashort laser system is provided. In another aspect of the present invention, a method of measuring laser pulse phase distortions is performed without requiring a pulse shaper or overlap between two or more beams. In another aspect of the present invention, a method for directly displaying the second derivative of the spectral phase distortions is performed without requiring a pulse shaper, overlap between two or more beams or an interferometer. In yet another aspect of the present invention, a system, a method of operating, a control system, and a set of programmable computer software instructions perform multi-photon intrapulse interference phase scan processes, calculations, characterization and/or correction without requiring a pulse shaper. Furthermore, another aspect of the present invention employs methods, control systems and software instructions for calculating, measuring and/or characterizing an unknown phase distortion of a laser beam through use of the second derivative of the spectral phase and/or using a series of second harmonic spectra obtained under different chirp conditions to determine the spectral phase distortion. A further aspect of the present invention provides for automatic, real time and computer-controlled adjustment of optics associated with a femtosecond laser, stretcher and/or compressor to compensate for phase distortions based on calculations and/or measurements of the spectral phase distortions in ultrashort laser beam pulses without the use of a pulse shaper.

The direct ultrashort laser system of the present invention is advantageous over conventional devices in that the present invention system is considerably less expensive to implement. For example, in certain embodiments, traditional optical hardware can be employed without expensive pulse shapers, but will still allow for accurate measurement and/or characterization of otherwise unknown phase distortions within the laser pulse. This system can then be upgraded in a relatively easy manner by providing for higher level calculations of the measured phase distortions. Moreover, the system can be further upgraded to provide automatically controlled adjustments and compensation for the measured and/or characterized phase distortions to essentially eliminate undesired distortions. Accordingly, a low cost, easily upgradable and easy to practically implement system is achieved, while also providing excellent accuracy of results. Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1( a)-(c) are a set of graphical plots showing expected data for the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a graphical measurement expected for the present invention;

FIGS. 3( a) and (b) are graphical plots showing expected spectral phase measurements for the present invention;

FIG. 4( a) and (b) are measurements of a sinusoidal spectral phase expected for the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a computer software flow diagram for a quantitative, non-pulse shaper MIIPS embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a computer software flow diagram for a monitoring non-pulse shaper MIIPS embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a computer software flow chart for a quantitative non-pulse shaper MIIPS embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a computer software flow chart for a non-pulse shaper, iterative MIIPS embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A direct ultrashort laser system of the present invention employs an intuitive single-beam pulse characterization method that provides an accurate and direct measurement of the spectral phase of ultrashort laser pulses. In one aspect, the method requires the successive imposition of a set of quadratic spectral phase functions on the pulses while recording the corresponding nonlinear spectra. The second-derivative of the unknown spectral phase can be directly visualized and extracted from the experimental 2D contour plot constructed from the series of spectra, without the need of an inversion algorithm or mathematical manipulation.

A spectral phase measurement should be simple, direct and insensitive to noise. Nonlinear optical (“NLO”) processes are sensitive to the second derivative of the phase because of multiphoton intrapulse interference. In keeping with the above requirements, the direct measurement of the second derivative of an unknown phase Φ″(ω) is considered. Φ″(ω) is plotted as a function of frequency as shown by the line in FIG. 1( a). The goal can be restated as mapping the unknown function in the two dimensional space. This can be achieved by introducing a grid of reference functions ƒ″(ω), and finding for what values of ω they intersect the unknown Φ″(ω). For each intersection, identified by a circle in FIG. 1( a), the equation Φ″(ω)=ƒ″(ω) is satisfied. Given that each of the functions ƒ″(ω) are known, the function Φ″(ω) can be obtained directly.

Practically speaking, the simplest reference functions are horizontal lines, which correspond to different amounts of linear chirp—also known as quadratic spectral phase. When the introduced chirp locally compensates the unknown distortion, the MIIPS equation

Φ″(ω)−ƒ″(ω)=0   (1)

is satisfied. It is at that frequency that any NLO process, for example second harmonic generation (“SHG”), reaches its local maximum possible intensity (FIG. 1( b)). This condition allows for the identification of the position of every intersection. Experimentally, a NLO spectrum, for example second-harmonic generation, is acquired for each horizontal line on the grid in FIG. 1( b). The spectra obtained for each linear chirp value are used to construct a two-dimensional contour map as shown in FIG. 1( c) in which the height corresponds to the SHG intensity. When a line is drawn through the maxima in the contour map, the unknown Φ″(ω) is directly obtained.

This procedure is the simplest and most direct method for measuring the phase of an ultrashort pulse, and can be used to measure the chromatic dispersion introduced by passive optics, adaptive pulse shapers or by nonlinear optical effects. The method is based on the fundamental concept of multiphoton intrapulse interference, which explains why NLO processes are maximized when Equation 1 is satisfied. A multiphoton intrapulse interference phase scan (“MIIPS”) method typically uses a sinusoidal function for ƒ(ω). The present invention system and method, however, use a reference quadratic phase function to obtain Φ″(ω) directly. Measurements from a sub-5 fs laser system are included obtained performing a single chirp scan.

EXAMPLE

Referring to FIG. 3, an ultrabroad-bandwidth femtosecond Ti:Al₂O₃ laser oscillator with a double chirped mirror pair is used, whose spectrum spans 620-1050 nm and generates a SHG spectrum spanning almost 200 nm. The pulse shaper for introducing the spectral phase −ƒ(ω) is a folded all-reflective grating-based system containing a 150-lines-per-mm grating, a 762-mm-focal-length spherical mirror, and a 640-pixel dual-mask spatial light modulator (SLM-640, CRi Inc.). After the shaper, the pulses are focused onto a 20-μm type-I KDP crystal, and the SHG signal is separated from the fundamental before it is directed to a spectrometer. A spectrometer model QE65000 from Ocean Optics Inc. would be satisfactory. The system setup is of the type disclosed in B. W. Xu, Y. Coello, V. V. Lozovoy, D. A. Harris, and M. Dantus, “Pulse Shaping of Octave Spanning Femtosecond Laser Pulses,” Opt. Express 14, 10939-10944 (2006), which is incorporated by reference herein.

Transform-limited pulses are obtained by measuring and compensating the spectral phase of the system using the sinusoidal MIIPS method. To demonstrate the performance of this method a cubic spectral phase function defined as Φ(ω)=500 fs³(ω−ω₀)³, which corresponds to a linear Φ″(ω), is introduced to the pulses and measured with the method described herein. The trace is shown in FIG. 2. The dashed line indicates the spectral maxima, which directly correspond to the expected measurement Φ″(ω). Note that both the accuracy and precision of the measurement are ˜1−2 fs², and results are obtained from a single chirp scan with grid-step of 5 fs².

Once Φ″(ω) is obtained, double integration is used to calculate Φ(ω). FIG. 3 shows the measured and the introduced functions, together with the spectrum of the laser. Excellent accuracy of the results is expected, which is obtained from a single chirp scan. The data shown in FIG. 3 measures the third-order dispersion (TOD) with 0.5% accuracy.

The method presented is able to measure arbitrarily complex spectral phases. To demonstrate this ability and for comparative purposes, a sinusoidal spectral phase function defined by Φ(ω)=5π sin[7 fs (ω−ω₀)], is introduced using a pulse shaper and then measured by the method described herein (see FIG. 4). As evident from the screen shot shown in FIG. 4( a), the second derivative of the introduced phase is obtained from a chirp scan. The measured phase (green) is very close to the phase introduced by the comparative pulse shaper (red), as shown in FIG. 4( b). To improve the quality of this method, an iterative measurement-compensation routine can be used.

The MIIPS implementation of the present invention does not necessarily require the use of an adaptive pulse shaper. Given that different amounts of chirp can be applied using passive optics, the method can be conveniently implemented using these devices. Alternatively, a more versatile option is the use of an adaptive pulse shaper, as shown herein. In this case, compression can be thoroughly accomplished by applying −Φ(ω) to null the measured phase distortions.

In addition to linear chirp, other reference functions can be employed when using an adaptive pulse shaper for comparative purposes. Even though the simplicity of the measurement resulting from using a constant ƒ″(ω) has been highlighted herein, there are as many variations of the method as reference functions one can implement. For example, the accuracy of the use of a sinusoidal ƒ″(ω) has been proven, but requires a special optic or shaper to introduce such a phase. Other options include adding a fixed amount of cubic reference phase while scanning a quadratic phase. This corresponds to a diagonal grid. Adding a negative cubic reference phase produces the complementary diagonal grid. Cubic phase causes the horizontal dashed lines of FIG. 1 to become diagonal lines. This approach can be implemented on arbitrarily complex distortions and allows improved and fine-tuned accuracy.

The MIIPS chirp scan implementation is especially suitable for sub-50 fs pulses. For a measurable distortion ΔΦ″, the corresponding change Δl_(SHG)(ΔΦ″)=l _(SHG)(ΔΦ″=0)×β²/2(ΔΦ″/τ₀ ²)² needs to be bigger than the noise N, where τ₀ is the time duration of the pulses. For a Gaussian pulse, l_(SHG)(ΔΦ″=0)×β²/2(ΔΦ″/τ₀ ²)²≈N, is obtained, where β+4 ln 2. Typically, the noise of the SHG signal is about a few percent. Therefore, the precision of the Φ″ measurements is about 0.1τ₀ ². For the laser system used in this study τ₀≈5 fs and a 2.5 fs² precision is calculated, which should be in excellent agreement with expected experimental results.

There can be an instruction that outputs parameters to be used with a pulse shaper that can compensate the measured phase distortions to eliminate them. The calibration step can be accomplished by introducing a known amount of group velocity dispersion. For example, introducing one centimeter of quartz. Furthermore, the spectrum of the pulse and the measured phase can be used to calculate the ratio τ/τ_(TL). The first value is calculated from the Fourier transform of the spectrum including the phase distortions measured, the second value is obtained from the Fourier transform of the spectrum assuming there are no phase distortions. This fraction gives the user a sense of how far from transform limited the pulses are. As part of an automated system, this value indicates if the equipment is performing within an acceptable range or it needs to be optimized.

When this method is used for microscopy, the user should use a thin 10-100 um second harmonic generation crystal (for example KDP, KTP, BBO, LBO) encased between a thin 100 um quartz cover slip and a microscope slide. The crystal should be protected from phase matching fluid used in microscopy by sealing the space between the cover slip and the microscope slide with a polymer such as silicon glue.

A grisms based optical setup allows for the measurement and compensation disclosed herein, and is well suited for microscopy. The prism, grisms, gratings, offset mirrors or other optics can be adjusted manually based on information provided by the MIIPS can obtained by introducing a series of linear chirps. The adjustments can be computer controlled and automated based on information calculated from the measurements performed by the scan, in a fully automated fashion.

For communications, there is a great need to measure third and higher order dispersion and then to design a phase mask (or a special fiber) to cancel the third order dispersion. Moreover, an aspect of the present invention pertains to the use of an acoustic optical programmable filter to introduce the linear chirp for the method disclosed herein, to get the phase information.

Another aspect of the present invention system, method, control system and computer software instructions, is as follows. Amplified lasers typically have a compressor stage that is used to compensate linear chirp. There is an actuator in the compressor stage that is motorized that the user manually moves to find the optimal position where linear chirp is minimized. Making adjustments to minimize quadratic chirp are only carried out by experts because it is typically very difficult to measure and very difficult to know which knob to adjust in the laser. By scanning this actuator, one achieves a linear chirp scan as disclosed herein. The systematic scanning of this actuator while detecting at each position the spectrum of the second harmonic of the laser pulses, the user is now able to characterize the laser pulses. The system includes a nonlinear optical source, a spectrum detector, a computer controller that synchronizes data acquisition with the position of the actuator, a computer program to convert the actuator position into linear chirp value, the same program to display the collection of spectra as a function of linear chirp, for a program to extract the second derivative of the phase from the measured signals, and to convert that function in to the spectral phase of the pulse.

A first embodiment of the present invention system, method, control system and software instructions is the simplest and readily usable and conventional laser devices without requiring the expense of a pulse shaper. This embodiment allows for qualitative analysis by the programmed instructions in the computer control, and associated method, in order to measure and characterize phase distortions in a laser beam pulse and display them in a graphical manner. This allows the user to manually adjust the laser optics until the user is visually satisfied that the desired phase distortions have been reduced or eliminated. The method, controller and computer software act as follows:

-   -   a. Introducing linear chirp, typically in the range of (−10,000         to +10,000 fs²). This value depends on the laser bandwidth and         the estimated distortions; the smallest I imagined is +−1000 fs²         and the largest 100,000 fs². Laser optics such as a pair of         prisms, a pair of gratings, one grating with an associated         reflector, a pair of grisms, or the Trebino prism, can be used.     -   b. Acquiring a signal with a laser from a nonlinear optical         process such as second harmonic generation. For example,         focusing on a second harmonic generation crystal, or powder from         such a crystal, or starch, or SHG generated from the surface         plasma as the femtosecond pulse interacts with a solid can be         employed.     -   c. Dispersing the spectrum of the nonlinear optical signal, such         as a spectrometer, a grating or a prism or grism.     -   d. Detecting the spectrum, such as with a CCD camera, a linear         array of detectors or a rotating grating with a fixed detector.     -   e. Calculating and displaying the resulting collection of         spectra with the controller as a function of chirp, as a three         dimensional plot in which intensity is the z axis, the y axis is         linear chip and the x axis is wavelength. The three dimensional         plot can then be displayed as a contour plot. This should         provide fantastic pulse characterization.

A second and upgraded embodiment of the present invention system, method, control system and software instructions, is based on the first embodiment above and provides quantitative analysis. This second embodiment, however, introduces a calibrated amount of linear chirp in step (a) of the first embodiment by using one or more known thicknesses of quartz for comparison, by way of example. Additional steps and software instructions are as follows with reference to FIGS. 5 through 8:

-   -   f. Calculating and fitting resulting three-dimensional data to         extract, for each wavelength, the linear chirp that causes a         maximum in the nonlinear optical spectrum, with the controller     -   g. Calculating, constructing and displaying the second         derivative of the measured phase as a function of wavelength         obtained from (f) with the controller.     -   h. Graphically displaying and storing the result from (g).     -   i. (optional) Calculating by integrating twice the result         from (g) as a function of wavelength to obtain the spectral         phase as a function of wavelength with the controller.     -   j. (optional) Determining and displaying the phase obtained         in (i) together with the spectrum of the laser with the         controller.     -   k. (optional) Calculating and determining a fast Fourier         transform using the spectrum of the laser pulse and the measured         phase, and then determining and displaying a graphical function         that describes the pulse and/or phase distortions in the time         domain. Thereafter, calculating the performance of the laser         compared to the transform limited value to determine the amount         of phase distortion, if any. This is carried out with the         controller.

A third embodiment of the system, method, control system and software instructions, is an additional upgrade to the first embodiment above. This exemplary embodiment repetitively performs the methods and instructions of the first embodiment, and employ the hardware of steps (a)-(d) therein. The hardware for step (a), however, should be constructed in such a way as to scan the linear chirp fast, repetitively, and with minimum vibrations. This can be achieved with linear actuators, such as stepper motors, for manual adjustment. It could also be achieved with an off-axis wheel that pushes the position of the optics (a) certain distance as it rotates depending on its position. Electromagnetic actuators, such as those found in loud-speakers could also be used. Conventional tilting of gratings and prisms to compensate for cubic dispersion typically causes other unknown problems. In contrast, the present embodiment measures, calculates and displays the phase distortion results, including displaying the horizontal of the maximum multi-photon intrapulse interference intensities, as shown in FIG. 1, thereby allowing for much more educated and informative optic adjustments by the user. This will lead to more accurate and faster compensation and correction of the phase distortions.

A fourth embodiment system, method, control system and software instructions, employs the second embodiment above. Additionally, the computer controller and its associated programmed instructions, automatically adjust the laser optics based on the calculations and determinations. For example, an optic will deflect a small portion of the laser beam output, the computer will calculate its characteristics as previously explained for the second embodiment, and the controller will automatically actuate the actuators to move the optics if they are not meeting the desired specifications and minimized phase distortions. If these adjustments are still not satisfactory in comparison to predetermined target values, then the controller can automatically display a warning, shut down the laser system and/or automatically contact a technician for servicing the machine.

Although these implementations do not require a pulse shaper, when alternately used with a pulse shaper, this method reduces the burden on the shaper. The above method can be used to reduce linear and quadratic chirp in order to let the pulse shaper deal with higher order dispersion and to introduce calibrated arbitrary phase functions.

A known method to introduce linear chirp is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0070485 to Trebino, which is incorporated by reference herein. The Trebino setup can be used for scanning linear chirp according to step (a) of the first embodiment herein. This system, which is now sold commercially by Spectra Physics as the “Deep Sea” model, provides an actuator that is calibrated. Note that this system is intended only for pulse compression (only linear chirp). For one aspect of the present invention, the operator first takes the entire beam output and uses it for second harmonic generation. It is the output of the SHG that needs to be dispersed and recorded as a function of linear chirp. In conclusion, a new MIIPS implementation based on a simple chirp scan is presented. The corresponding trace directly yields the second derivative of the unknown spectral phase, without any mathematical treatment.

A second known method to introduce linear chirp is disclosed in the publication by Oron et al, “Scanningless Depth-Resolved Microscopy,” Optics Express, Vol. 13, No. 5, p. 1468 (Mar. 7, 2005), which is incorporated by reference herein. The Oron method improves depth resolution and speeds up laser scanning microscopy. It involves the dispersion of a beam and collimating it, and then focusing it as shown in Oron FIG. 2. At the second focal plane, the beam is not chirped but away from the focal plane, according to Oron FIG. 1. This optical setup allows the introduction of linear chirp and can be used for pulse characterization if one follows the methods disclosed in the present invention. The advantage of using the Oron optical setup for introducing linear chirp, in combination with the present invention, is that the entire linear chirp scan is accomplished for each laser shot, thus allowing single shot spectral phase characterization.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed, it should be realized that other variations may alternatively be employed. It is intended by the following claims to cover these and any other departures from the disclosed embodiments which fall within the true spirit of this invention. 

1. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising: (a) emitting at least one laser beam pulse; (b) introducing reference phases in the at least one pulse; (c) detecting harmonic frequency intensities of the at least one pulse; (d) determining a matrix of the detected harmonic frequency intensities versus the reference phases; (e) determining a maximum intensity in the matrix for each frequency of the at least one pulse; (f) assigning a value corresponding to each maximum intensity; (g) determining a second derivative of a spectral phase from the maximum intensity values for each frequency; (h) calculating a double integral with respect to frequency in order to obtain a spectral phase function of distortions in the at least one pulse; (i) canceling the distortion in the at least one pulse by introducing a negative value of that calculated in step (h); and (j) introducing the negative value to cancel distortion using a non-programmable optic including at least one of: (a) a deformable mirror, (b) a chirped mirror, and (c) a grating.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the optic is passive, reference phases are not introduced by a programmable SLM, and instead different amounts of linear chirp are introduced to subsequent amplified pulses using a pulse compressor.
 3. (canceled)
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising deforming the optic which is the mirror by activating at least one piezoelectric actuator.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the optic includes a deformable glass substrate having a thickness of at least 0.1 millimeters.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the optic is grating and varying the grating by a single adjustable parameter.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising introducing different amounts of linear chirp to pulses as the reference phases using a built-in compressor by varying a spacing between a grating pair.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a programmable controller to automatically calculate spectral phase information in a direct manner by finding p_(max)(ω) and using φ″(ω_(i))=ƒ″(ω_(i)p_(max)), where ω_(i) is the desired frequency and p_(max)is the required parameter, and an unknown φ″(ω_(i)) is directly obtained from a contour plot without any mathematical retrieval procedure from the matrix determination step.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising using multiphoton intrapulse interference to assist with characterizing and compensating for distortions in the at least one pulse, and displaying a resulting collection of spectra as a function of chirp as a three-dimensional plot in which intensity is on a first axis, linear chirp is on a second axis and wavelength is on a third axis.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the corrected at least one pulse in microscopy with the corrected at least one pulse having a duration less than 15 femtoseconds.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising measuring the spectral phase distortion with a single laser pulse.
 12. (canceled)
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising using programmable software instructions with multiphoton intrapulse interference phase scan procedures to automatically measure distortion of the pulse after the pulse has interacted with the non-programmable optic.
 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising translating at least one dispersive optic to introduce the reference phases in the pulse.
 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising bending the passive optic member, which includes a mirror, where the beam is spectrally dispersed to introduce the reference phases in the pulse.
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising relaying the pulse through a fiber, and measuring and correcting high-order phase distortions introduced by the fiber through software calculations without inversion or learning algorithm procedures.
 17. The method of claim 1, further comprising: introducing a spectral phase delay to introduce the reference phases; scanning the optic to collect a phase scan by a programmable controller; correcting the distortions at a point at which they are being measured; and maintaining a distortion correcting condition of the optic without the need for electrical power.
 18. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising: (a) directly determining an unknown spectral phase of a first laser beam pulse, at least in part, by determining a second derivative of the unknown phase at each frequency of the first pulse; (b) determining a pulse shape that corrects a nonlinear distortion in at least a second pulse; and (c) correcting at least the second pulse with at least one passive optic member and without autocorrelation, interferometry and a computer-controlled, pixelated pulse shaper.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: (a) emitting the laser beam pulses; (b) introducing reference phases in at least one of the pulses; and (c) detecting harmonic frequency intensity spectrum of at least one of the pulses.
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising; (a) determining a matrix of the detected harmonic frequency intensities versus the reference phases; (b) determining a maximum intensity in the matrix for each frequency of at lest one of the pulses; (c) assigning a value corresponding to each maximum intensity; and (d) calculating a double integral with respect to frequency in order to obtain a spectral phase function of distortions in at least one of the pulses.
 21. The method of claim 18, further comprising introducing an inverse retardation to cancel distortion using the nonadaptive and passive optic member.
 22. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one passive optic member includes a mirror, further comprising deforming the mirror with at least one piezoelectric actuator.
 23. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one passive optic member includes a deformable glass substrate having a thickness of at least 0.1 millimeters and a reflective layer located thereon.
 24. The method of claim 18, wherein the passive optical member has a single adjustable parameter.
 25. The method of claim 18, further comprising introducing different amounts of linear chirp to amplified pulses in the reference phases using a built-in compressor by varying a spacing between at least one dispersive optic.
 26. The method of claim 18, further comprising using a programmable controller to automatically calculate spectral phase information in a direct manner by finding p_(max)(ω) and using φ″(ω_(i))=ƒ″(ω₁,p_(max)), where ω_(i) is the desired frequency and p_(max) is the required parameter, and an unknown φ″(ω_(i)) is directly obtained from a contour plot without any mathematical retrieval procedure from a matrix determination.
 27. The method of claim 18, further comprising using multiphoton intrapulse interference to assist with characterizing and compensating for distortions in at least one of the pulses, and displaying a resulting collection of spectra as a function of chirp as a three-dimensional plot in which intensity is on a first axis, linear chirp is on a second axis and wavelength is on a third axis.
 28. The method of claim 18, further comprising using the corrected second pulse in microscopy with the corrected second pulse having a duration less than 15 femtoseconds.
 29. The method of claim 18, further comprising using programmable software instructions with multiphoton intrapulse interference phase scan procedures to automatically obtain phase information about the pulse acted upon by the passive optic member which is non-programmable.
 30. The method of claim 18, further comprising introducing a reference phase in at least one of the pulses by translating a dispersive optic. 31-36. (canceled)
 37. A laser system comprising: a laser beam pulse; a passive optic member located at a Fourier plane operably introducing reference phases in the pulse; a spectrometer operably detecting harmonic frequency intensities of the pulse; a controller operably determining a matrix of the detected harmonic frequency intensities versus the reference phases; the controller operably determining a maximum intensity in the matrix for each frequency of the pulse; the controller operably assigning a value corresponding to each maximum intensity; the controller operably determining a second derivative of a spectral phase from the maximum intensity values for each frequency; the controller operably calculating by double integration a spectral phase function of distortions in the pulse; and a subsequent laser beam pulse having its distortion cancelled based at least in part on the controller's calculation, a distortion correcting condition of the passive optic member being maintained without the need for electrical power. 38-39. (canceled)
 40. The system of claim 37, wherein the optic member is non-pixelated and has a single adjustable parameter. 41-62. (canceled)
 63. A computer program, stored in memory, the program comprising: (a) a first set of instructions operably introducing laser beam pulse-reference phases; (b) a second set of instructions operably determining a matrix of detected pulse-harmonic frequency intensities versus the pulse-reference phases; (c) a third set of instructions operably determining a maximum intensity in the matrix for each pulse-frequency; (d) a fourth set of instructions operably assigning a value corresponding to each maximum intensity; (e) a fifth set of instructions operably determining a second derivative of a spectral phase from the maximum intensity values for each frequency in a direct manner; (f) a sixth set of instructions operably calculating a double integral with respect to frequency in order to obtain a spectral phase function of pulse-distortions; (g) a seventh set of instructions operably displaying three-dimensional data including a derivative of the phases, wavelength and intensity; and (h) an eighth set of instructions operably causing physical movement of at least a portion of an optic to correct a pulse distortion.
 64. The program of claim 63, further comprising another set of instructions operably canceling the distortion in a subsequent pulse by introducing a negative value of that calculated, and a further set of instructions using multiphoton intrapulse phase scan procedures to measure and correct for pulse distortions without a programmable pulse shaper.
 65. The program of claim 63, further comprising another set of instructions operably automatically calculating spectral phase information in a direct manner by finding p_(max)(ω) and using φ″(ω_(i))=ƒ″(ω_(i)p_(max)), where ω_(i) is the desired frequency and p_(max) is the required parameter, and an unknown φ″(ω) is directly obtained from a contour plot without any mathematical retrieval procedure from the matrix determination instructions. 66-69. (canceled)
 70. The method of claim 18, further comprising temporarily bending the at least one passive optic member with at least one actuator and reflecting at least the second pulse with the passive optic member.
 71. The method of claim 70, wherein the at least one actuator is a piezoelectric actuator, further comprising controlling the actuator with a programmable controller which conducts the determining steps.
 72. The method of claim 70, wherein the at least one actuator includes multiple screw actuators which bend the passive optic member.
 73. A method of using a laser system, the method comprising: (a) emitting at least one laser beam pulse; (b) introducing at least one reference phase in the at least one pulse; (c) determining harmonic frequency intensities of the at least one pulse; (d) determining a matrix of the detected harmonic frequency intensities versus the at least one reference phase; (e) determining a maximum intensity value in the matrix for each frequency of the at least one pulse; (f) determining a second derivative of a spectral phase from the maximum intensity values for each frequency; (g) determining a double integral with respect to frequency in order to obtain a spectral phase function of distortions in the at least one pulse; (h) shaping the at least one pulse by a nonadaptive optic including at least one of: (a) a mirror, and (b) a grating, and maintaining a desired pulse shaping condition of the optic without the need for electrical power; and (i) using computer software instructions to automatically characterize distortion in the at least one pulse after it has been shaped by the nonadaptive optic.
 74. The method of claim 73, further comprising causing physical movement of at least a portion of the optic to correct a pulse distortion.
 75. The method of claim 73, further comprising carrying the at least one pulse through a fiber, and measuring high-order phase distortions introduced by the fiber.
 76. The method of claim 73, further comprising deforming the nonadaptive optic which is the mirror by activating at least one piezoelectric actuator. 